Description
Brazil’s official position on the Falklands War supports Argentina’s claims over the ‘Malvinas’ islands. The conflict has since raised strategic questions explored by the Brazilian Navy regarding the deterrence of the South Atlantic from Global North actors. However, the Navy’s strategic discourse not only reproduces but idealises Margaret Thatcher’s strategic shrewdness, even while referring to the conflict as the ‘Malvinas’. Why does Brazil’s foreign policy look to the South Atlantic, while its strategic posture aligns with the North Atlantic? This paper draws on Lacanian psychoanalysis and the concept of fantasy. It argues that the Brazilian Navy’s strategic discourse reflects a post-colonial condition in which ritual deterrence articulates a fantasised image of the civilised Western Other. The Navy resists Britain’s perceived imperial presence in its strategic orbit, while simultaneously emulating its strategic discourse. This paper contributes to the growing literature on ritual deterrence by showing how, in Brazil’s post-colonial context, it serves to stabilise an internally coherent self.
